The World Travel & Tourism Coun­cil’s (WTTC) 2023 Economic Impact Research (EIR) today shows the Trav­el and Tourism sector is closing in on its 2019 peak, recovering by more than 95%.

In 2023, the sector is forecast to reach $9.5TN, just 5% below 2019 pre-pandemic levels when travel was at its highest. 34 countries have al­ready exceeded 2019 levels.

According to the research con­ducted by WTTC in collaboration with Oxford Economics, the global tourism body also forecasts that the sector will recover to 95% of the 2019 job level.

Last year, despite the econom­ic and geopolitical difficulties, the Travel and Tourism sector’s recov­ery continued at pace, growing 22% year-on-year to reach $7.7trn.

This recovery represented 7.6% of the global economy in 2022, the high­est sector contribution since 2019, al­though its global GDP is still 22.9% behind its 2019 peak.

In 2021 the global sector grew 24.7% year-on-year, and last year it grew a further 22% to reach a GDP contribution of $7.7TN.

The research shows that the on­going conflict in Ukraine and pro­longed travel restrictions imposed by several countries such as China had a significant impact on the global recovery.

But, the recent decision by the Chinese government to reopen its borders from January will propel the sector and see it recover to pre-pan­demic levels next year.

From a pre-pandemic high of more than 334MN, the COVID-19 pandem­ic ravaged employment in the sector which saw losses of more than 70MN to bring the total number employed in 2020 to just 264MN.

Following the recovery of 11 mil­lion jobs jobs in 2021, the sector cre­ated 21.6 million jobs new jobs in 2022 to reach more than 295 million jobs globally – one in 11 jobs worldwide.

Spending from overseas visitors grew by a record 82% to reach $1.1tril­lion in 2022, showing that internation­al travel is firmly back on track.

Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “The Travel and Tourism sector continues to recover at pace, demonstrating the resilience of the sector and the enduring desire to travel.

“By the end of the year, the sec­tor’s contribution will be within touching distance of the 2019 peak. We expect 2024 to exceed 2019. Travel and Tourism will be a growth sector over the next ten years.

“The recovery will speed up this year as Chinese travellers re-enter the market. Travel & Tourism pro­vides 300 million jobs worldwide.”

What does the next decade look like?

The global tourism body is fore­casting that the sector will grow its GDP contribution to $15.5trillion by 2033 representing 11.6% of the global economy and will employ 430million people around the world, with almost 12% of the working population em­ployed in the sector.

The latest EIR also reveals that 34 of the 185 countries analysed in the EIR have now recovered to pre-pan­demic levels in terms of GDP con­tribution.

WTTC forecasts that by the end of 2023, nearly half of the 185 coun­tries will have either fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels or be within 95% of full recovery.